With MLB winter meetings beginning this week, the two Washington Nationals stars who were at the center of trade speculation in left handed pitcher MacKenzie Gore and shortstop CJ Abrams have now entered the spotlight. Whether one – or both – are moved this week is now a question after fresh reporting from Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
“The Washington Nationals aren’t simply drawing heavy interest in left-hander MacKenzie Gore. They are also getting pushed aggressively on shortstop CJ Abrams, according to people familiar with their discussions,” Rosenthal wrote on Monday. “The Nationals are open to conversations on both players, but the bar is high, league sources told The Athletic on Monday.
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What Abrams’ market materializes to will be worth monitoring with an expected limited supply of high-end talent at shortstop to be made available this offseason. At 25, he is coming off his best offensive season after finishing with 19 home runs, 31 stolen bases and a .748 OPS.
Gore, meanwhile, is coming off his first All-Star selection and has reportedly drawn interest from more than half the league with talks about a potential move have remained constant over the offseason. Still, whether a move does materialize is still worth monitoring.
“The Washington Nationals are telling teams to make an offer for starter MacKenzie Gore and shortstop C.J. Abrams, but executives don’t believe either will be traded at the meetings,” Bob Nightengale of USA Today wrote on Sunday.
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Still, a trade involving either Gore or Abrams would expect to draw a significant haul for the Nationals as president of baseball operations Paul Toboni navigates through his first offseason with the club.
Toboni addressed potential trade discussions surrounding Gore on a podcast with Buster Olney of ESPN last week.
“He’s really good and so it doesn’t surprise me that teams are reaching out on him. I had a conversation with MacKenzie the other day and I said hey, before we really even hop into this, this is going to be a thing. Teams are going to call about you because you’re really good,” new Nationals president of baseball operations Paul Toboni said during Wednesday’s edition of the Baseball Tonight podcast.
Meanwhile, the Nationals made a less heralded trade acquisition last week after acquiring catcher Harry Ford and minor league pitcher Isaac Lyon in exchange for left handed pitcher Jose Ferrar, a trade ESPN graded an ‘A-‘ for Washington.
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“The first major transaction from Paul Toboni, the Nationals’ new president of baseball operations, looks like a good one. Anytime you can turn a reliever into a possible long-term starting position player, that’s a win. We’ll hedge the grade here a bit since Ford hasn’t proved himself on the major league level, plus he projects more as a solid regular than a future star, but he should be a significant upgrade at a position that saw the Nationals rank 29th in the majors in OPS.”
Toboni is expected to hold his first session with reports at the winter meetings on Monday afternoon, potentially shedding light on the Nationals’ offseason plans.